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“CSC, Caffè Speciali Certificati is an association
born of the experience and passion of a group of roasters
with a single common purpose: that of promoting the culture
of quality coffee, to affirm the value of a quest arising
from their own traditional professional backgrounds.
This mutual dream, this authentic and unerring ideal
has given birth to a project which aims to make coffee a
choice of flavour, and not just a simple habit.
An undertaking which represents a dual challenge:
that of the market and that of breaking strong habits.
To achieve this aim CSC offers the support of its
ability and experience, providing its members with access to
selected and certified raw coffees, so that the final
product is not just any old cup of coffee, but a coffee of
true quality.
Too frequently abused, the concept of quality is
instead a very real requirement: it only remains to define
the criteria necessary to achieve the end.
Which is why CSC has armed itself with strict
procedures, elaborated with the purpose of obtaining a
secure and demonstrable standard of quality.
The correct and efficient application of these
procedures to the methods of production and selection of
green coffee has obtained ISO 9002 certification.
CSC is therefore able to guarantee, from coffee
plantation to coffee cup, the superior level of blends
marketed by its members: a special label, progressively
numbered and provided with an anti-forgery device, certifies
that the package to which it is applied contains solely
Certified Speciality Coffee – Caffè Speciale Certificato.
CSC does not purchase coffee, but superintends the
controls required to guarantee its quality.
How is this done?
It is done thanks to an ISO 9002-certificated
procedure involving all the phases of the coffee production
cycle, starting with the identification of those plantations
with the best requisites, right through to tests at the
plant of the individual roasters.
To guarantee continuity of quality, the green coffee
producers selected by CSC must prove that:
The Technical Commission defines, for each source of
green coffee the standards of excellence necessary to obtain
CSC quality certification, and identifies the ideal areas
and altitudes for cultivation as well as the best times of
the years for shipment. It also verifies that the quality of the green coffee from
each crop complies with the established quality standards.
At the start of each crop-season, our coffee producers
send CSC a representative sample of their crop.
This is then forwarded to qualified tasters who carry
out full physical and organoleptic testing. Subsequently the Technical Commission examines the test
results to verify that they comply with the established
standards of excellence.
When an associated roaster purchases a shipment of
coffee to be certified, an independent inspector effects
sampling during the unloading operations, after the arrival
of the carrying vessel at final destination.
Then he forwards the sample to the taster who
compares this sample with the previously tested crop sample.
If the taster confirms that the quality of the
unloading sample corresponds to the crop sample, CSC sends
the roaster a number of CSC labels proportionate to the
quantity of green coffee purchased.
In order to guarantee the quality of the product, CSC
inspectors verify at the associated roaster’s plant that
all the procedure specifications have been complied with,
including the compilation of the form relative to the
roasting, blending and packaging of the coffee.
Roasters are obliged to conserve the samples of green
coffee corresponding to the declared blends until the
arrival of the inspectors at their roasting plant.
Each sample must be accompanied by a form indicating
all the shipments of certified coffee being used to prepare
the parcel to which the sample refers.
The
Association regulations contain a list of the requirements
which must be met by a green coffee arriving from the
producing countries in order to be considered as
“special”, a coffee which must, therefore, be in
possession of those characteristics of excellence which are
indispensable for CSC quality certification.
A
specific attachment contains a list of quality standards for
each of the various areas of origin.
For each producing country the classifications of the
best products have been taken into account.
Using these parameters as a basis and subsequent to
careful study, the quality levels have been raised even
further, and some important technical specifications have
been added such as, for example, the best period of the year
for shipping goods in the ports in the various countries of
origin.”
CSC
brochure
“For CSC members, quality is first and foremost a
value, both professional and personal, expressed by a quest
which is extended to all phases of the production cycle.
So what does certified speciality coffee really mean?
It means that we have been in person to select the
plantations from which our raw coffee originates and that we
check, on an annual basis, the quality of the harvest based
on set standards. It
means that the shipments purchased by members are re-checked
at discharge and tested by highly qualified tasters.
And yet again, it means that CSC controls continue
throughout roasting, to ensure that blends marketed with our
sticker are produced using only certified green coffee and
that the correct roasting, blending and packing procedures
are followed.”
President of CSC |
